A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu

Coming Soon:

The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

To contact me about organizing, email me at rpwolff750@gmail.com

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Monday, October 20, 2014

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

We are now just two weeks from the midterm elections, and it
is becoming clear that the Democrats are likely to lose control of the Senate.It is not a done deal, were the feckless, ne’er-do-well
Democratic base to get off its collective duff and just wander over to the
polls to vote, we could avoid the unpleasantness of Mitch McConnell as Senate
Majority Leader, but I am afraid the outcome universally considered most likely
will in fact be the outcome that we get, so it is not too early to speculate on
what it will all mean.Herewith some
idle guesses, worth roughly as much as the effort they cost me to put into
words.Treat them accordingly.

First of all, I think we can assume the day of the filibuster
is over, so the Republicans will be able to pass any legislation they wish.Getting it signed is of course another
matter.This will present the Senate Republicans
with a very difficult problem.The House
Republicans will certainly wish to repeal the Affordable care Act and pass all
manner of anti-abortion legislation, etc.But in 2016, the electoral map will as unfavorable to the Senate Republicans
as the 2014 map is to the Democrats, so the vulnerable Republican senators will
not wish to have their fingerprints on a good deal of reactionary legislation that
could come back to haunt them in 2016. Some
very interesting fights may spring up within the Republican Party.

There will be two months between the loss of the Senate and
the installation of the new Senators, so there is in fact time to fill some
more vacant federal judgeships.Unfortunately
[and quite incomprehensibly] Obama has been derelict in nominating candidates
for District Court and Appeals Court judgeships.The Bush White House was quite industrious in
this regard, with a large staff in the White House Counsel’s Office devoted to
the matter.Under Obama, this function
has been understaffed and neglected.Why?It beats me.Doing that would have been a freebie.It is an example not so much of ideological failing
as sheer malfeasance.

In the wake of a loss of the Senate, Hillary Clinton will
move up the announcement of her candidacy for the presidency in order to
present herself as the salvation of disheartened liberals.This will be a fraud, but it will work, and
as liberals watch the efforts of a mobilized and energized Republican Party to dismantle
the last tottering structures of the New Deal legacy, they will allow
themselves to be conned into thinking that Clinton is in some manner a savior.In the absence of a real liberal candidate,
she will waltz into the nomination and win the 2016 Presidential race against
some far right crazy put up by Republican right wingers convinced their moment
has come.

The next ten years – my eighties – are going to be unusually
difficult for someone of my persuasion.But with any luck, my nineties will be more cheerful.Since the Tigger in me is irrepressible, I
shall approach my centenary with a light heart.Of course, by then my morning walk may take me most of the day.

About Me

As I observed in one of my books, in politics I am an anarchist, in religion I am an atheist, and in economics I am a Marxist. I am also, rather more importantly, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a violist.